Delegated Tax Legislation under the Ethiopian Laws: Broad or Narrow?

Abstract

Delegated tax legislation is treated differently from other categories of delegated law making. Accordingly, Constitutions of several countries differ in the extent to which they allow the legislature to delegate tax law making authority. At one extreme, no delegation is permissible (Non-delegation doctrine); at the other extreme, excessive-delegation doctrine requires only that taxes have a legal basis under the constitution. The third and widely accepted is an intermediate position which places limits on delegation holding that for a tax to have a firm basis in law, its essential elements must be provided in an enabling law. However, the FDRE Constitution is silent on issue of delegated tax legislation. Due to this reason, the extent of delegation under the Ethiopian tax laws are controversial. The extent of executive body delegation to enact secondary laws in Ethiopian tax laws are doubtful as to their limit. There is great confusion on the extent to which legislatures can delegate tax law making authority to the other branches of government. Likewise, the interplay between delegated tax legislation and principle of legality is not clear under the Ethiopian tax laws. Thus, the purpose of this article is, to examine the extent of delegated tax legislation under the Ethiopian tax laws and their conformity to the principle of legality. A doctrinal research methodology is employed to examine the stated purpose. The FDRE Constitution, Ethiopian tax Laws and other legislations are used as primary data source. Additionally, books, articles, journals, and other relevant materials in the area are scrutinized as secondary data sources. Finally, the author concludes that the liberal delegation in the Ethiopian tax laws in making of secondary legislation is against principle of legality and contradicts with the widely accepted slogan of “no taxation without representation” and lastly commands the executive body delegation should be limited to details.